Jordin Tootoo’s life hasn’t been perfect. Far from it, actually.
But now, with a successful NHL career behind him, a loving wife and three beautiful daughters at home, and sobriety for almost 15 years, the former Nashville Predators fan favorite has never been better.
Telling his story helped, and along with director Michael Hamilton and producer Adam Scorgie, his documentary - simply titled “Tootoo” - is giving the rest of the world a glimpse into what life was like as the first Inuk player in the NHL.
“It was quite the project, to be honest,” Tootoo said last week on the Predators Official Podcast. “The last five years have been really healing, not only for myself, but my family. We all fight a fight no one knows about, and especially with professional athletes. Your average fans look at us and say, ‘Well, how could they struggle in life when they've got it going on?’ And you know, we're human, too.”
Perhaps the word “former” should be omitted when referring to the now 42-year-old Tootoo, especially in these parts. On Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena, hundreds of Preds Smashville Loyal members attended a screening of the documentary, many of them donning jerseys with “Tootoo” emblazoned on the back.
The moment was of the full-circle variety for the Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, native, and there was no place he wanted the first American showing of the film to be than his first and favorite NHL city - a place that shaped Tootoo into the man he is today.
“Getting back to Nashville, where the heart of my career started, and where really, Jordin Tootoo grew up, [is special],” Tootoo said. “I was 20 years old when I moved to Nashville and spent nine years there and met a lot of great people. Couldn’t land in a better city, to be honest, for a young guy like me. The market wasn't really big back in the early 2000s, so there wasn't a lot of pressure. I was able to grow and to mature and live out my dreams in Music City. What a great experience it was.”
That stay in Tennessee didn’t come without ruts in the ice, however, and in the documentary, Tootoo, as well as his former coach - and current Preds General Manager, Barry Trotz; former Preds GM David Poile; and former Preds teammates like Shea Weber, Scottie Upshall, Jim McKenzie and Brian McGrattan all offer their insights into what Tootoo went through before he was sober.
That lifestyle, combined with his physicality on the ice, took a toll and eventually led Tootoo to rehab. Much of the anger and sadness, as Tootoo discusses, came from the loss of his brother, Terence, to suicide before Tootoo turned pro.
“At the end of the day, we all have battles, and a lot of us men silently hold those battles in,” Tootoo said. “For me, I had the game of hockey to release that anger and that frustration. Not a lot of men can say that they can go to work and release their anger and all that. But this whole process has brought my wife and I closer together. It's allowed us to be able to communicate because, like I said, men, we tend to hold everything inside and and a lot of times we don't know how to verbalize. This whole process, even throughout my sobriety journey, I've now realized that, yes, people do change, and we have to allow space for that.
“A lot of times, we want to bring history back and bring it back down to your level. A lot of times, I've created boundaries where, yes, I have a lot of shame and guilt with my past actions, but I'm not going to carry that anymore. Today, I'm moving forward. I'm not going to forget, but that being said, I think my documentary is - you want to call a spade a spade? Watch my documentary. I don't hold back.”
